The mayor of Laval, the province’s third-largest city, announced his resignation Friday, just a few days after his Montreal counterpart tiptoed down the same political plank.

Gilles Vaillancourt, who since 1989 has run the suburb with little competition, says he doesn't deserve to have his reputation tarnished but he says the damage is already done.

By:Alexander Panetta and Sidhartha BanerjeeThe Canadian Press, Published on Fri Nov 09 2012

LAVAL, QUE.—The mayor of Laval, the province’s third-largest city, announced his resignation Friday, just a few days after his Montreal counterpart tiptoed down the same political plank.

It was a steep fall for Gilles Vaillancourt of Laval, who had been so electorally dominant over the course of a 23-year mayoral career that his critics would call him, “The Monarch.”

In a solemn resignation announcement, Vaillancourt lamented the current climate of suspicion in Quebec. He has in the past loudly protested his innocence and threatened to sue those who accused him of corruption. But on Friday, he protested less loudly.

He simply suggested that he had been hard done by.

“We are going through a very difficult, very painful moment as a society,” the 72-year-old Vaillancourt told reporters.

“All elected people, at all levels, are accused of all sorts of wrongdoing. We’re hearing all sorts of things, we’re facing allegations that without being proven can irreversibly change someone’s reputation. . . . I am one of these people, and I’m deeply hurt.”

He suggested quitting was his only option: “Whatever I say or do . . . the damage (to my reputation) is done.”

The mayor touted his record in overseeing the development of a once-sleepy farming community into a bustling and fast-growing municipality. He said he had always worked for Laval residents. Vaillancourt thanked journalists for their coverage during his career, then turned around and walked away without taking any questions.

Vaillancourt had been on sick leave since Oct. 24.

The provincial government saluted his decision Friday, saying it was time for residents to look to the future.

Quebec’s anti-corruption unit has closed in on Laval in recent weeks, raiding numerous engineering firms and businesses in addition to Vaillancourt’s own home, condo, offices and his bank safety-deposit boxes.

Vaillancourt’s name has also been mentioned in ongoing testimony before Quebec’s Charbonneau inquiry into corruption.

Former construction boss Lino Zambito testified that Vaillancourt received a kickback on contracts handed out in Laval. Vaillancourt has denied those allegations, as he has denied past allegations that he offered bribes to people involved in provincial politics.

Laval police had a police car stationed outside Vaillancourt’s home early today.

A police spokesman said it was purely to maintain order after a reporter had gone onto the property the previous day in an effort to speak to the mayor.

Const. Frank Di Genova said it wasn’t Vaillancourt that made the request.

Allegations that the Montreal mayor turned a blind eye to illicit financing of his own municipal party prompted Gérald Tremblay to resign this week as the mayor there. Tremblay also denied the allegations, but said he was quitting for the good of the city.

Unlike Vaillancourt, the former Montreal mayor has never been accused of personally pocketing money.

Montreal still faces a leadership crisis, following the mayor’s departure.

The city’s No. 2 dramatically quit Friday out of frustration with his colleagues.

He said it was not because he was passed over as a candidate for interim mayor, but because of deep differences with the rest of the city’s executive body.

He said he opposed the committee’s plan to push ahead with Tremblay’s 3.3 per cent hike on property taxes; he said Montrealers deserved, with all the scandals, to see their burden lightened.

“This budget no longer respects taxpayers who feel ripped off,” Michael Applebaum told reporters, adding that any tax hike above 2.2 per cent, or roughly the usual rate of inflation, would be unreasonable.

“This budget simply isn’t being accepted.”

The city must choose a temporary replacement for Tremblay by next week.

In Montreal and in Laval, there can be no snap municipal election under provincial law unless a mayor quits more than a year before the next scheduled vote. The next round of municipal elections will be held in Quebec next November.

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